Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Sun Center Studios, September 22, 2016 in Aston, Pennsylvania.
Advertisement
But at the same time he has recently reached out to African-American voters as the gap in many opinion polls has narrowed between him and his rival in the November 8 presidential election, Democrat Hillary Clinton. For example, while his comments Thursday were sympathetic to protesters, during the primary, Trump said the Black Lives Matter movement was “looking for trouble”.
King, who is black, continued: “If you’re a dancing and sliding and gliding n— I mean Negro – you are ‘a dancing and sliding and gliding Negro.'” Gasps and laughs could be heard from the audience.
Media captionCan Trump win with white voters only? Many black community leaders and voters have been offended by his dire depiction of life in minority communities.
Trump addressed a town hall hosted by Fox News celebrity Sean Hannity that aimed to bolster support for Mr. Trump among African Americans, who generally loathe him. “We never had problems like this”, Kathy Miller, Trump’s campaign chair for Mahoning County, in the key battleground state of OH, told The Guardian during an interview Thursday. “There’s a level of mistrust and a caricature of her that just doesn’t jibe with who I know”. “I’ve gotten to know Hillary and seen her work and seen her in tough times and in good times”.
He called both Wednesday and Thursday for increased use of the controversial “stop-and-frisk” policing tactic, in which an officer can stop and frisk person in public if the officer has a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. “They’ll stop, they’ll frisk, and they’ll take the gun away”.
He said: “She’s in this for the right reasons”.
Clinton has campaigned alongside a group of black women called the “Mothers of the Movement”, who advocated for more accountability and transparency by law enforcement.
Hours later, Trump’s OH state director Bob Paduchikissued a statement announcing Miller’s resignation, which included an apology from the former county chairwoman.
Video of the Oklahoma shooting shows that 40-year-old Terence Crutcher had his hands up as officers approached. He then drops to the ground. “I mean, it’s a bad thing that we’re witnessing”, he said. Then nearly immediately, someone can be heard yelling, “Shots fired!”
Trump has made multiple overt attempts to reach out to African-American voters in the past month, including a trip to a black church in Detroit earlier this month, which was his first of the campaign.
Trump’s remarks came as police confirmed the death of a protestor shot in demonstrations in the aftermath of the killing of Keith Scott in Charlotte, the Guardian reported. Officers say Scott was armed and posed a threat. “The violence against our citizens and our law enforcement must be brought to a very rapid end”.
Advertisement
Donald Trump made another eyebrow-raising comment in his efforts to speak to the African-American community Tuesday, telling a rally in North Carolina that blacks in the United States are in their worst shape “ever, ever, ever”.
